Method of producing a pleated article



June 1963 s. A. M. WYNDHAM METHOD OF PRODUCING A PLEATED ARTICLE Original Filed Oct. 22, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet l a 7 8 w 5 A p w G w r 1 v m 6 e ll r C W4. M LQWV 5: n n L 5 mm 7 3 .10 I 4 F m 2 J n u f i X IDORGAN, FINNEGAN, own/am PINE ATToRNEys J1me 1963 G. A. M. WYNDHAM 3,094,090

METHOD OF PRODUCING A PLEATED ARTICLE Original Filed Oct. 22, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG] IN VEN T R 615 HA ANTONIA MARIA wyrmfinm MOR AN, FINNEGHN, D uRH m PINE A TTORNE/j June 18, 1963 G. A. M. WYNDHAM 3,094,090

METHOD OF PRODUCING A PLEATED ARTICLE Original Filed Oct. 22, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 1221 FIG. l5 '7 I my 5 -70 R G /5 ELA HNTONIH mam/4 wynuHnm 3) moRs RN, F/NNEGA Du RHAWJ PINE A TTO RN E S United States Patent Ofiice 3,094,090 Patented June 18, 1963 3,094,090 METHOD OF PRODUCING A PLEATED ARTICLE Gisela Antonia Maria Wyndham, 185 Goldhurst Terrace, London, England Original application Oct. 22, 1957, Ser. No. 691,745, new Patent No. 2,948,241, dated Aug. 9, 1960, Divided and this application Apr. 21, 1960, Ser. No. 23,812 Claims priority, application Great Britain Oct. 24, 1956 1 Claim. (Cl. 112--262) The invention relates to a method of producing a pleated strip from a flat strip of material.

The invention has among its objects to provide method for guiding material into a form or position in which it may be sewn or stitched. More particularly the invention relates to a method adapted for use with a sewing or stitching machine for facilitating the manufacture of articles made of cloth or other fabric or material, such as garments, or curtains, the length of which may require to be extended from time to time.

it is among the objects of the invention to provide method of producing a piece of materialhereinafter referred to as a multipleat strip--independent of the article to be lengthened, but which can be attached to it, and having the following features. The multipleat strip consists of a strip of material folded upon itself a number of times so as to create a plurality of superposed folds, folded over portions or pleats stepped or staggered slightly in relation to each other, each folded over portion being secured to all of the folded over portions which lie beneath it by a separate length of easily removable stitching.

The multipleat strip may be manufactured and sold entirely separately from the article with which it is to be used and can be applied to any article having a hem, and may be attached to the article by sewing or otherwise fastening or fixing one edge of the multipleat strip to the main part of [the article and the other edge to the hem of the article.

The article can then be lengthened at will by an amount equal to the depth of either only one fold, or equal to the combined depth of two folds, or by the combined depths of three folds, merely by pulling out respectively, one, two or three lengths of thread, and so on, as the case may be dependent upon the amount of lengthening required.

According to the invention means for pleating material ready for stitching are provided comprising a shaped pleat forming device into one end of which the material or a part or edge of a length of material is fed, and in which it is formed into pleats or the like to issue at the other end and in the desired form and/or position adapted for immediate stitching.

Means according to the invention are provided comprising a device for preparing material for stitching into pleats consisting of a substantially triangular plate adapted for attachment to a stitching machine and having longitudinally extending corrugations progressively increasing in height from the base or front end to the apex or rear end of the plate and tapering inwardly or converging from the base towards the apex, one or more transverse guide members positioned along the length of the plate above the corrugations and of a section corresponding to that of the corrugations at the positions of mounting on the plate, retaining members disposed within the grooves of the corrugations, and means presenting adjacent horizontally disposed slits, into which slits the folded material from the corrugations is guided for pleating.

According to the invention furthermore, the means for pleating may consist of an elongated substantially triangularly shaped plate tapering from a base, at which position the material is fed in to the apex, at position the material enters an end pleating member, lengthwise corrugations converging from the base towards the apex being provided on the surface of the plate to effect a folding or pleating of the material as it is drawn along the plate member, the material being maintained in contact with the surface of the plate by transverse guides, advantageously secured to flanges formed on the sides of the plate, and by resilient fabric retaining members advantageously secured only at one end and confining or pressing the material in the grooves formed by the corrugations, the material passing through a slotted end member from which it issues as a series of flat superposed consecutive pleats or folded over portions stepped relative to each other to pass directly to a stitching position. 7

In carrying the invention into effect according to one construction, described by way of example, in which the device is adapted to fold and pleat a strip of material for use as an element referred to above, the device is clamped to a sewing or stitching machine so that the plate member is substantially vertical and the end member comprises a number of over-lapping communicating horizontal slits from which the material issues in a horizontal position ready for stitching.

The plate member comprises an elongated substantially triangular plate flanged in opposite directions along the sides, guide means for guiding and holding the material in contact with the plate member being secured to the flanges. I

Lengthwise corrugations are formed on the upper sur: faces of the plate, to effect a folding of the material prior to dual pleating in the end member.

The material to be pleated is fed to the open end of the plate member and is maintained in contact with the upper surface of the plate by means of guide and holding members secured to the flanges of the plate, resilient members confining the material in the grooves formed by the corrugations of the plate and thereby effecting a folding of the material.

The action of the resilient members in the grooves formed by the corrugations and of the retaining guides above the corrugations of the plate keeps the material free of rocks and wrinkles as it passes along the plate.

On reaching the end of the plate the strip is fed into an end member formed with a plurality of overlapping horizontally disposed communicating slits through which the strip is passed and in which it is pleated.

The pleated strip from the end pleating member is received on a metal foot below the needles of the machine which exect the stitching of the pleats.

' The material is advantageously drawn along the plate member under the action of a puller consisting essentially a pair of superimposed rollers which may be 'driven through gearing from the drive of the stitching machine.

One construction of a device according to the invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

. FIGURE 1 is a side view of the device in the direction of the arrow X of FIGURE 3. 7 FIGURE 2 is a section on the line A--A of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a top elevation of the device in position for attachment to the sewing machine.

FIGURE 4 is an end elevation in the direction of the arrow Y of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a part section on line CC of [FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged detail of a retaining member.

FIGURE 7 is a schematic elevation of the disposition of the device in position on a stitching machine and of a foot and the puller used in conjunction with the device.

FIGURES 8-14 are end views of the strip showing the successive steps in the method of producing the multipleat, and

FIGURE 15 is an end view of the finished multipleat strip and showing the rows of stitches applied thereto.

The pleat forming device 1 comprises an elongated substantially triangular plate provided with flanges 2 and 3 in opposite directions along the sides. Primary material retaining members 4a and 4b are secured to the flanges 2 and 3 for guiding the material in contact with the plate 1.

Lengthwise corrugations 5 are formed on the surface of the plate 1 to etfeot a folding or corrugating of the material prior to final pleating in the end member 6. The corrugations formed in the surface of plate 1 become progressively deeper and narrower from the front end of plate 1 toward the rear end thereof. The corrugations formed in the surface of the plate 1 between the front end of the plate up to and including the primary material retaining member 4a are all coplanar while the corrugations formed in the surface of the plate 1 from the primary material retaining member 4a through the primary material regarding member 4b and up to the rear end of plate 1 are stepped or fanned out each in relation with the other in the counterclockwise direction from the plane containing the front end 7 of the plate 1.

The material 20 to be pleated is fed to the front or open end 7 of the plate 1 and is maintained in contact with the surface of the plate by means of secondary material retaining members 8a and 8b which may be resilient to confine the material in the grooves formed by the corrugations 5 of the plate 1 and thereby effect the corrugating of the material.

The end member 6 is formed with a plurality of fanned out and consecutively communicating overlapping horizontally disposed slots 9, see FIGURE 4, which are arranged in stepped relation with each other which register with the rear ends of plate 1 and through which the strip is folded and in which the pleating is finally completed to form the multipleat. The multipleat emerging from the end member 6 is engaged under a metal foot 10 below the needles of the machine which effects the stitching 21 of the pleats.

Movement of the material along the plate 1 and under the foot 10 is effected by a puller 11, the respective units being disposed as shown in FIGURE 7. The pleat forming device is secured to the stitching machine by member 12, in obvious manner.

Now referring to the method of producing the multipleat strip illustrated in FIGURES 8-14, a flat strip of material is progressively folded with the ends oppositely directed and compressed from one edge E between reference lines CC and DD with the crests and troughs of the fold tangential to parallel datum lines AA and B--B while the distance between the datum lines is progressively increased commensurately with a decrease in the distance between reference lines CC and D-D. In other words the pitch of the folded over portions of the strip of material is commensurately decreased with an increase in the amplitude between crests and troughs of the folded over portions.

Referring to FIGURE 11 the distance between lines A--A and B-B has been increased commensurately with a decrease in the distance between lines CC and D-D but the parallel datum lines AA and -B--B have progressively turned or fanned out while remaining substantially parallel about an axis coinciding with the reference 4 line CC which axis extends preferably between datum lines AA and B--B.

Referring to FIGURES 12, 13 and 14 the distance between lines AA and B-B is further increased with a commensurate decrease in the distance between lines CC and DD while the stepped relation between the folds is maintained.

The angle of rotation of lines AA and BB is such that at all times a line perpendicular to reference line CC and adjacent the crest of the end fold in the material passes through every fold in the material there below and through the opposite end of the material.

The folding operation begun at FIGURE 8 is completed at FIGURE 14 and FIGURE 15 shows the final step in which the individual rows of stitches are applied starting through the crest of the fold at line CC and through all the folds therebetween and substantially equidistant each with the other. The number of rows of stitches applied to the folded fabric corresponds with the number of crests or folds formed in the folded fabric or multipleat.

In use and when the width of the multipleat is to be increased each row of stitches is consecutively and successively removed starting with the row of stitches passing through every folded over portion of the multipleat so that the length of the multipleat is increased in equal increments.

This application is a division of my prior copending application Serial No. 691,745 filed October 22, 1957, now Patent No. 2,948,241, granted August 9, 1960.

What is claimed is:

A method of producing from a fiat strip of material lying in a starting plane a multipleat strip having consecutive reversely bent folds arranged in stepped relationship comprising the steps of corrugating said flat strip across the Width thereof, moving said corrugated strip longitudinally and gradually decreasing the width and increasing the depth of said corrugations so as to transform said flat strip into a multipleat strip having substantially flat superimposed consecutive folds lying in substantially parallel planes with the edges of adjacent folds being substantially aligned, fanning out said corrugations along consecutive paths each having substantially equal angular increments from the path of the immediately adjacent corrugation so that the consecutive folds are stepped and each of the folds has a portion superimposed upon each of the others at an angle to the starting plane of said strip, and row stitching through all of said stepped folds of said multipleat strip adjacent to the reversely bent extremity of each fold to fasten together a consecutively increasing number of said folds.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 775,209 De Nike Nov. 15, 1904 1,024,317 Douglas Apr. 23, 1912 1,152,635 Horton Sept. 7, 1915 2,277,723 Seaman Mar. 31, 1942 2,530,678 Brennan Nov. 21, 1950 2,786,616 Cady Mar. 26, 1957 2,908,014 Jacoby Oct. 13, 1959 

